CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In the latest financial trouble dogging an uptown condo tower, the developer of the stalled condos at the EpiCentre in uptown Charlotte has filed for bankruptcy.
Charlotte FC, an affiliate of Indianapolis-based Flaherty & Collins Properties, filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in Indianapolis last week. A Chapter 7 filing indicates the company intends to liquidate its remaining assets instead of reorganize.
The planned 50-story tower, named 210 Trade, is partially constructed at the EpiCentre, at College and Trade streets uptown. Construction stalled in early 2008, a development that Flaherty & Collins later said arose not because of financing problems but because of a dispute over technical building-code issues. It was to have 420 units.
The bankruptcy filing includes a list of 261 creditors who had placed down payments on units, including EpiCentre developer Afshin Ghazi (listed as being $23,585). The down payments were typically between $12,000 and $30,000 and paid in 2006 and 2007, when demand for uptown condos was booming.
The general contractor for 210 Trade was R.J. Griffin & Co., which bankruptcy paper list as being owed $6.6 million.
R.J. Griffin is also the contractor for The Vue, a nearly complete 50-story tower at Fifth and Pine streets that is set to resume construction after a five-week delay. The developer said lenders sought additional guarantees after condo sales dropped off.
